11/04/2013

This summer, the Y Combinator-backed startup Loblaunched a new developer API which lets companies easily integrate printing and shipping services into their applications. Today, the company is announcing $2.4 million in seed funding from various YC partners and angel investors. Participating in the round were Kevin Hale, Dalton Caldwell, Sam Altman, Joshua Schachter, Alexis Ohanian, Paul Buchheit, Garry Tan, Polaris Partners, and other undisclosed investors.

With Lob, whose early adopters include CrowdTilt, ZenPayroll, LendUp, LocalOn, and others, developers can automate or print a variety of products on demand, including postcards, photos, flyers, posters, bills, checks, invoices, and more.

The company says it now has over 1,000 paying customers, and just hit $40,000 in revenue at the end of last month. It has also printed a million dollars worth of checks. On the horizon, there’s the potential for Lob to grow even larger, with now two Fortune 500 companies testing the service on a smaller scale. If those trials come to fruition, they could be multi-million dollar deals, the founders tell us.

A graduate of Y Combinator’s summer 2013 program, Lob was started earlier this year by University of Michigan grads Harry Zhang and Leore Avidar. Zhang had been inspired to create the service after previously working as a product manager at Microsoft, where he saw the difficulties involved with customer mailings – the company had interns stuffing envelopes in a mailroom for weeks, at times.

Today, Lob’s use cases go beyond your typical printed materials, like postcards, invoices or promotional mailings, for example. The company already offers tools like address verification, and “Smart Packaging” (where it picks the best packaging type automatically), and now it’s also working to enable printing of other products, too, including photo albums/photo books, and even t-shirts and mugs. Longer term, the team is considering moving into physical books as well, given customer demand.

“When we think of printed products, it’s anything that ink can touch,” explains Zhang. He wants Lob to be a one-stop shop where companies can manage all their printings. And although it’s still early days, the solution is growing in popularity. Customers generally come in with a single request, but then realize how they can use Lob in other areas, too. Today, almost every customer is using two products at the minimum, even though over half had arrived seeking just a single solution.

The team was also surprised to see international sign-ups, given its U.S. focus, with customers arriving from South America, Europe, Asia and Australia, then opting to have Lob print and ship items overseas. “A lot of international companies don’t have local ways to do this, so they’re willing to pay a little more,” Avidar says.

In terms of its pricing, Lob has been competitive, but maybe not the cheapest option, though that’s changing as it begins to scale. In a few months’ time, Lob’s pricing will drop by an average of 10% across the board, we’re told. (Some products might not change, while others may drop by as high as 20%-30%, to give you an idea).

But Lob’s advantage hasn’t necessarily been one based just on price – it’s about the model. Competitors have traditionally required businesses to pay large amounts upfront, or even pre-pay for their entire order, but Lob lets its customers pay as you go.

“The fact that it’s a variable expense and you can do everything on a minimum quantity of one – that’s really the differentiator,” says Avidar. “You can’t really go anywhere and say: ‘I want to print one postcard’,” he adds.

With the additional funding, Lob is working to add new product categories and hire engineers to help build out its API. The company wants to double (or more) its four-person team over the next few months, and support for photo albums and t-shirts is arriving soon.

CHICAGO --- New Northwestern Medicine research offers one of the first in-depth studies of how physiological changes during pregnancy reduce the effects of a commonly used drug to treat bipolar disorder, making women more vulnerable to recurring episodes. The new findings will help psychiatrists and physicians prevent bipolar manic and depressive symptoms during pregnancy, which are risky for the health of the mother and her unborn child.

When a woman with bipolar disorder becomes pregnant, she and her physician often don't realize her medication needs adjusting to prevent the symptoms from coming back a higher risk during pregnancy. There also is little information and research to guide dosing for psychiatric medications during pregnancy.

Approximately 4.4 million women in the U.S. have bipolar disorder with women of childbearing age having the highest prevalence.

The new study shows the blood concentration of the commonly used drug lamotrigine decreases in pregnant women. About half of the women in the study had worsening depressive symptoms as their lamotrigine blood levels dropped. The drug levels fall because women have increased metabolism during pregnancy.

"Now physicians change the dose of the drug in response to women's symptoms worsening," said lead investigator Crystal Clark, M.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a psychiatrist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "We need to optimize their medication dosing so they stay well."

The study results will help physicians understand how to increase their patients' doses during pregnancy and then reduce them postpartum to avoid toxicity, Clark said. Guidelines for prescribing the drug for pregnant women with the disorder also are included.

The study was published Nov. 1 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Depressive episodes -- as opposed to manic -- are most likely to recur in pregnant women with bipolar disorder.

"The safety of the fetus is at risk," Clark said. "Pregnant women that are depressed are less likely to take care of themselves which often leads to poor nutrition, lack of compliance with prenatal care and isolation from family and friends. It has also been linked to premature births and babies with low birth weights among other poor birth outcomes."

###

The study was supported by grant R01 MH 075921 from the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health.

NORTHWESTERN NEWS: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/

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CHICAGO --- New Northwestern Medicine research offers one of the first in-depth studies of how physiological changes during pregnancy reduce the effects of a commonly used drug to treat bipolar disorder, making women more vulnerable to recurring episodes. The new findings will help psychiatrists and physicians prevent bipolar manic and depressive symptoms during pregnancy, which are risky for the health of the mother and her unborn child.

When a woman with bipolar disorder becomes pregnant, she and her physician often don't realize her medication needs adjusting to prevent the symptoms from coming back a higher risk during pregnancy. There also is little information and research to guide dosing for psychiatric medications during pregnancy.

Approximately 4.4 million women in the U.S. have bipolar disorder with women of childbearing age having the highest prevalence.

The new study shows the blood concentration of the commonly used drug lamotrigine decreases in pregnant women. About half of the women in the study had worsening depressive symptoms as their lamotrigine blood levels dropped. The drug levels fall because women have increased metabolism during pregnancy.

"Now physicians change the dose of the drug in response to women's symptoms worsening," said lead investigator Crystal Clark, M.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a psychiatrist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "We need to optimize their medication dosing so they stay well."

The study results will help physicians understand how to increase their patients' doses during pregnancy and then reduce them postpartum to avoid toxicity, Clark said. Guidelines for prescribing the drug for pregnant women with the disorder also are included.

The study was published Nov. 1 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Depressive episodes -- as opposed to manic -- are most likely to recur in pregnant women with bipolar disorder.

"The safety of the fetus is at risk," Clark said. "Pregnant women that are depressed are less likely to take care of themselves which often leads to poor nutrition, lack of compliance with prenatal care and isolation from family and friends. It has also been linked to premature births and babies with low birth weights among other poor birth outcomes."

###

The study was supported by grant R01 MH 075921 from the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health.

NORTHWESTERN NEWS: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/

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Share
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

10/29/2013

Click no further! Today, Twitter rolls out a new feature that embeds previews of photos and videos within your tweets. The update is available for both the web interface and iOS and Android apps, and promises to be super awkward when your random college buddy tweets NSFW pixxx. [Twitter]

10/27/2013

This week, we learned that NASA can beam data to the moon — at a frankly astounding 622Mbps — using a high powered laser. Sounds like cutting edge modern tech? Perhaps. But it also sounds like the best weapon from the best scene of the best James Bond movie ever made: Goldfinger.

10/24/2013

The Vatican announced it's removing a German bishop from office during a church investigation into his alleged lavish spending and perjury charges. The bishop met with the pope last Sunday. The accusations against the bishop, whose diocese is near Frankfurt, have shaken the German Catholic community, with many members calling for a thorough investigation into how the Church spends their money.

The Vatican today suspended a German bishop who's embroiled in a scandal over lavish renovations to his residence near Frankfurt. He's also facing perjury charges for lying about having flown first class to India on church-related business. The scandal has shaken Germany's Catholics who fund the church with part of their income taxes collected by the state. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Berlin.

SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: Bettina(ph) (unintelligible) packs new books at this Catholic bookstore in Berlin opened by her grandfather nine decades ago. She is one of the many German Catholics rattled by revelations that the Bishop of Limburg spent $43 million of church money to renovate his new residence and office complex.

BETTINA: (Through interpreter) What the bishop did is simply not right. Many people say that the Catholic Church is stuck in the Middle Ages and spending like this only bolsters their beliefs.

NELSON: The Reverend Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst is reported to have spent nearly $4 million on fixing up his palatial apartment in the picturesque German town of Limburg. German media report that his new bathtub cost $20,000. Another 1 million was spent to spruce up the garden. The bishop has defended his spending on what he says were 10 separate building projects with costs driven up because of historic building regulations.

MICHAEL FRIELINGHAUS: (Speaking foreign language)

NELSON: In an interview with the German public television network CDF, his architect, Michael Frielinghaus, dismissed claims that the Limburg project being ostentatious. He said a more accurate way to describe the work is high quality. That's not how many of his parishioners see it. Scores of them formerly left the church after the scandal broke earlier this month. The 53-year-old bishop offered no immediate comment after being sidelined by the Vatican following his meeting with the Pope on Monday.

How long Tebartz-van Elts will be suspended is unclear, but few here believe he'll return to the Limburg diocese or any other in Germany. The Vatican says it is awaiting the outcome of a church investigation into his spending practices before reaching a final decision. Lay leaders in the Limburg diocese held a press conference today to try and appease public anger.

GUENTHER GEIS: (Speaking foreign language)

NELSON: Guenther Geis, who is the dean of the cathedral chapter, said it will be hard to overcome people's broken trust. He called for prayers for the new vicar from neighboring Vis Baden who will take over in Limburg in the interim. But Christian Weisner of We Are Church, a grassroots organization seeking reforms, says it will take more than prayers to restore German Catholics' trust.

CHRISTIAN WEISNER: (Through translator) We need 100 percent transparency. And we parishioners need to have much more to say in how church money is spent. This money isn't the bishop's private stash, but it will take many years to get all the churches' finances out into the open.

NELSON: Weisner adds that there also hasn't been much sign of German church leaders responding to the Pope's call to lead more simple and frugal lives.

WEISNER: (Speaking foreign language)

NELSON: Weisner says German bishops still earn upwards of $11,000 a month and drive high-end cars like Audis, BMWs or Mercedes. Back in Berlin, bookstore owner (unintelligible) says that church officials should learn from the Bishop of Limburg's mistakes.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

10/21/2013

We're soooo often carried away with how lovely Liam Payne looks sans shirt or how seXXXy Harry Styles is when his delicious dong is dangling out of his pants, that we forget about where it all began!!!

The music! The marvelous, magnificent music! That's what REALLY makes them beautiful!

Well, One Direction latest single is Story of My Life and it should remind us all how truly talented these boys are!!!

Ch-ch-check out an AMAZEBALLZ clip from the song (above)!

ZOMG!!!! Brilliant! We can't wait to hear the whole thing!

And, you know, if Harry's peen makes an another appearance in the meanwhile, that's OK, too, LOLz!!

10/16/2013

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc removed a restriction for users under 18 that previously limited who could see their online postings from photos to musings on the world-wide social network.

The No.1 online social network said that teenagers would now be able to manually alter the setting and share information with the public. Until now, a teenager's postings on Facebook were only viewable to their friends, and to the friends of their friends.

However, Facebook said on Wednesday the default setting when teens do share information on the 1.15 billion user network would go out to a narrower group of people.

"Teens are among the savviest people using of social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard," Facebook said in an announcement of the changes.

"While only a small fraction of teens using Facebook might choose to post publicly, this update now gives them the choice to share more broadly, just like on other social media services," the company said.

The change comes as Facebook faces increasing competition from a new crop of mobile and social services, such as SnapChat and WhatsApp, that have proven popular with younger users.

Jeffrey Chester, Executive Director of the non-profit Center for Digital Democracy, said that Facebook was sacrificing the safety and privacy of teenage users in order to further its business.

"Teens don't necessarily have good judgment and to the extent that they make themselves visible to the wider public, there's all kind of people - from predators to junk food marketers - who are surveilling Facebook for new kinds of targets," Chester said.

Other social media services also allow teens to share information with the broader public. But Chester noted that the amount of personal information that users have on Facebook is far more extensive than on other social services, where users can create accounts with pseudonyms.

Facebook said that teenage users will also now be allowed to use the "Follow" feature, which lets strangers automatically receive public posts from another user without requiring that the two be connected on the service as mutual "friends."

Nicky Jackson Colaco, Facebook's manager of privacy and public policy, said that the changes would allow teenagers to share information that might benefit from dissemination to a broader audience, such as information about fundraising efforts, or a teen rock band trying to promote an upcoming performance.

Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old Pakistani activist, would not have been able to use Facebook as a broad communication channel under the previous policy, noted Stephen Balkam, of the Family Online Safety Institute, a non-profit that receives funding from several Internet companies, including Facebook.

Facebook said it would show teenage users a special notice the first couple of times they attempt to post information to the public, reminding the user that the post can be seen by anyone.

The restrictions on teen use of Facebook's private messaging feature will not change, with users under 18 only able to receive messages from their friends and from the friends of their friends.

10/14/2013

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop singer Justin Timberlake scored his second chart-topping album this year on Wednesday as his latest record debuted at No. 1 on the weekly Billboard 200 album chart, capping the singer's successful return to the musical spotlight.

Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience - 2 of 2," which follows the first set of 10 songs released in March this year, sold 350,000 copies in its first week, according to figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan.

The first installment of "The 20/20 Experience" sold 968,000 copies, the biggest opening week sales of the year so far.

Timberlake, 32, returned to music after more than a five-year hiatus, during which he focused on his acting career. His debut single "Suit & Tie" featuring rapper Jay Z became a chart-topper in January, and his album was received well by fans and critics.

Other new albums in the top 10 this week include 16-year-old New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde at No. 3 with her debut album "Pure Heroine," selling 129,000 copies.

The album has been driven by the popularity of the single "Royals," which topped Billboard's digital songs chart this week, selling more than 2 million download copies in the United States. Lorde's album also garnered nearly 6 million U.S. plays on online streaming platform Spotify in its first week.

Country singer Tyler Farr entered the chart at No. 5 with his debut album "Redneck Crazy," while Los Angeles sister trio Haim came in at No. 6 with the critically acclaimed debut album "Days Are Gone."

On the digital songs chart, which measures song downloads, the top three songs remained steady this week with Lorde's "Royals" at No. 1, Katy Perry's "Roar" at No. 2 and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" at No. 3.

A surprise entry on the digital songs chart this week came in the form of British 1960s rock band Badfinger's "Baby Blue" at No. 32. The song scored 37,000 downloads in the past week after being featured in the closing scene in the final episode of AMC's drug drama "Breaking Bad" last month.

Overall, album sales for the week ending October 6 totaled 4.8 million, down 10 percent from the comparable week in 2012, according to Billboard.

10/12/2013

Ivanka Trump's Instagram bio reads "American wife, mother and entrepreneur." She should have added "and crazy-gorgeous pregnant lady." The high-profile businesswoman and daughter of real estate scion Donald Trump shared a snapshot of herself, looking impossibly stunning, on Thursday, Oct. 10, just one week shy of her due date for baby number two with media mogul husband Jared Kushner.

"The final countdown…7 days to go!!" she captioned the photo, which seems to have been taken in her lavish 10-room Park Avenue apartment in NYC. The full-body shot shows the 31-year-old bombshell in her all her third-trimester glory. Wearing an embellished white crewneck sweater that clung to her her baby bump, flirty pink mini skirt, and high heels, Trump looked statuesque and not the least bit uncomfortable, given how close she is to her due date.

In fact, the hard-working Trump has barely slowed down. Just the day before, she Instagrammed pictures of herself working on her shoe line. She also shared a darling picture of her lunch date that day -- 2-year-old daughter Arabella.

This past June, the expectant mom sat down with Us Weekly to talk parenting. "Arabella isn't even 2, so she hasn't thrown me the challenges of a teenager . . . but I have a feeling I'm going to be pretty strict," she shared. "My mother [Ivana Trump] laid down pretty concrete guidelines and the concept of 'because I said so' was a totally viable option."

"The one thing I won't tolerate is her being spoiled or bratty or having poor manners," she continued. "That's one area [in which] I'll be very strict."